hurricane Elsa 2021

The CCRIF SPC (formerly known as the Caribbean Catastrophic Risk Insurance Facility), has confirmed that it made a number of payouts after the passage of hurricane Elsa, as member parametric insurance policies and deductible covers were triggered, its first payouts of the 2021 hurricane season.

Insurance industry losses from recent hurricane Elsa’s impacts in the Caribbean and the United States are estimated to be less than $350 million, by catastrophe risk modelling firm Karen Clark & Company (KCC).

Tropical storm Elsa regained its hurricane status briefly overnight, as environmental conditions were conducive to some restrengthening. Now back to being a 70 mph sustained wind tropical storm, Elsa is set for a landfall over the west Florida coast.

As hurricane Elsa moved across the eastern Caribbean one of the island nations it came close to was St Lucia, which it’s reported has experienced wind gusts to 79 mph and sustained 46 mph tropical storm force winds.

A hurricane watch has been issued for parts of the west coast of Florida, as tropical storm Elsa moves clear of Cuba and into the Florida Straits and the NHC warns of a chance of some strengthening before landfall.

Tropical storm Elsa weakened from its once hurricane status over the weekend and is now heading for a Cuba landfall before it moves into the Florida Straits. But despite being weaker, tropical storm Elsa still has the potential to be disruptive in the state and cause damage.

We now have our first hurricane of the 2021 Atlantic tropical storm season, as tropical storm Elsa has intensified as anticipated and now becomes hurricane Elsa, with the forecast still bringing the storm towards Florida over the coming days.